Inkjet printing is widely used to form images on print media, such as paper, plastic and other media Inkjet printers are used in homes, small businesses and large businesses alike and provide excellent quality printing at relatively low cost. For manufacturers of inkjet printers, ink and even the print media, there is always a desire to make the printing process faster (e.g., increasing the number of pages per minute produced) without compromising print quality. Moreover, there is a desire to print on a variety of print media, including various plastics, in order to provide package labeling, for example. Some high speed commercial digital printers typically employ an offset printing technique where an image is formed on an intermediate substrate and then is transferred to a print media. Other commercial digital printers print directly on the print media. However, there are certain physical limitations that hinder how fast a high speed printer can work and still provide excellent print quality. These physical limitations may be found in the ink, or more particularly, in how the ink behaves in the printing environment. Other physical limitations may be found in the print media and the printing process itself.
During an inkjet printing process, the ink is exposed to certain aerodynamic drag forces and shear forces that tend to break up an ink droplet after it is released by the inkjet printhead but before it reaches an imaging substrate. In high speed, single pass inkjet printing systems for example, the aerodynamic drag forces and shear forces are high. The ink droplets are subject to being broken into satellites and aerosols by these forces which impact print quality. Nevertheless, manufacturers strive to create faster inkjet printing systems to accommodate a variety of consumers and their applications. Unfortunately, the faster the printing process the greater the forces to which the ink is subjected.
Certain embodiments of the present invention have other features that are one of in addition to and in lieu of the features illustrated in the above-referenced figures. These and other features of the invention are detailed below with reference to the preceding drawings.